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Auto Engine Shutoff Near tragedy


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[EDIT - the title was changed to reflect Auto Engine Shutoff and not Auto Stop/Start as originally posted]

 

Recently I took my dog Gracie to the vet and made a stop afterwards at Verizon for phone purchase. I left my 2019 Nautilus locked and running with AC on. (I had turned auto start/stop off when I left the vet's office).   I went out to check on her a couple of times since I was there  around 40 minutes.  When I came out to leave the car had cut off.  I was horrified to think my dog could have died in a hot car if I had been away much longer! Thankfully it was a cloudy day but still over 90 degrees and the car mustn't have been turned off long.  A gentleman came out of store after me and saw what happened.  He said he worked at the local Ford dealership and the car would cut off after 10 minutes of idle even with Auto start/stop turned off.  I've looked in my manual and do not find this specified.   I travel with my two dogs on 9 hour trips with short stops along the way.  I really dislike this feature and regret trading my 2016 MKX for the Nautilus.  Furthermore, buyers/owners should be made well aware of this life threatening feature with a warning sign inside the car.

Edited by akirby
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6 hours ago, Kekparns said:

Recently I took my dog Gracie to the vet and made a stop afterwards at Verizon for phone purchase. I left my 2019 Nautilus locked and running with AC on. (I had turned auto start/stop off when I left the vet's office).   I went out to check on her a couple of times since I was there  around 40 minutes.  When I came out to leave the car had cut off.  I was horrified to think my dog could have died in a hot car if I had been away much longer! Thankfully it was a cloudy day but still over 90 degrees and the car mustn't have been turned off long.  A gentleman came out of store after me and saw what happened.  He said he worked at the local Ford dealership and the car would cut off after 10 minutes of idle even with Auto start/stop turned off.  I've looked in my manual and do not find this specified.   I travel with my two dogs on 9 hour trips with short stops along the way.  I really dislike this feature and regret trading my 2016 MKX for the Nautilus.  Furthermore, buyers/owners should be made well aware of this life threatening feature with a warning sign inside the car.

 

Hi Kekparns. You have confused two very different functions. Auto Start/Stop and the Engine Safety Shutoff (EDIT -"Automatic Engine Shutdown") are two entirely different functions.

 

Auto Start/Stop is a fuel saving feature which stops the engine temporarily when stopped at red lights etc., then restarts the engine when you press the accelerator. Its purpose is to save gas. You can temporarily turn it off with the Drivers Information Center.

 

The Engine Shutoff (EDIT -"Automatic Engine Shutdown") feature is a safety feature that turns the engine off after it has been sitting idle for 30 minutes. Its purpose is to keep people from accidentally asphyxiating themselves (and others) by leaving the engine running when it should not be running (garages etc).  It can not be permanently turned off and I believe you must be in the car to temporarily override it before the 30 minute time limit.

 

Good luck.

Edited by bbf2530
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People have died from accidentally leaving their cars running in the garage, so I understand the necessity of the feature.  You do have to manually override the shutdown after 30 minutes.  I’ve personally done it many times.  

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If this is the justification, then why couldn't they just activate a buzzer, tone etc. to let the person know the car's engine is still running when the driver's door is opened?

 

You know... like they used to?

 

If you leave the keyfob in the slot in the dash and open the door there is a tone.

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14 minutes ago, jniffen said:

If this is the justification, then why couldn't they just activate a buzzer, tone etc. to let the person know the car's engine is still running when the driver's door is opened?

 

You know... like they used to?

 

If you leave the keyfob in the slot in the dash and open the door there is a tone.

 

My push button start F150 honks the horn when you walk too far away from the truck with the engine running. This doesn't stop people from walking away. Tones don't stop people from walking away.

It's real simple, don't leave kids or pets in the car when it's hot out. Every summer we hear the horror stories.

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10 hours ago, jniffen said:

If this is the justification, then why couldn't they just activate a buzzer, tone etc. to let the person know the car's engine is still running when the driver's door is opened?

 

You know... like they used to?

 

If you leave the keyfob in the slot in the dash and open the door there is a tone.

 

I can tell you that in the case of my 2017 Lincoln MKC, if I get out of the car with it running and I have the keyfob on me, as soon as I close the door the horn will honk twice.

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1 hour ago, twintornados said:

 

I can tell you that in the case of my 2017 Lincoln MKC, if I get out of the car with it running and I have the keyfob on me, as soon as I close the door the horn will honk twice.


People went nuts about this when it was first introduced.  It is annoying if you need to jump out for a few seconds.  Some use Forscan to disable it. But all you have to do is not shut the door all the way.

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25 minutes ago, HotRunrGuy said:

 

maybe scroll back up to the first post, to see the reason why he want's to leave the vehicle running,,,,,

 

HRG

 

That had nothing to do with the OPs issue which was auto engine shutoff.   It was a tangential discussion of why people want to disable the double honk.

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  • akirby changed the title to Auto Engine Shutoff Near tragedy

Does this engine shutoff feature exist on the new Super Duty trucks? On most of them you can enable an "elevated idle control" so you can leave them running in idle to power things like compressors, hydraulic pumps, or other industrial equipment. And many do come with keyless entry now.

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On 7/28/2020 at 7:49 AM, akirby said:


People went nuts about this when it was first introduced.  It is annoying if you need to jump out for a few seconds.  Some use Forscan to disable it. But all you have to do is not shut the door all the way.

 

Again, like it used to be, a tone started when the door was opened and the key was in the ignition.

 

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12 hours ago, akirby said:


Yes but the horn honk is orders of magnitude louder to the point of waking up neighbors.

 

HI Allen. Perhaps if you weren't out until all hours of the morning partying it up, the neighbors would not be asleep. ?

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